On January 1, 2016, I posted the theme from Speed Racer, my favorite cartoon. Now I am going a step further by including a piece of incidental music from the program. It's from an episode called The Most Dangerous Race, a great one that includes drivers Snake Oiler (member of the Car Acrobatic team), and the mysterious Racer X.
It opens with a suspenseful variation on the theme's main motif, a tornado of horns, strings and pounding drums. Cheating death at every turn, Speed is a demon on wheels. There are a few brief moments of pastoral whimsy at 0:06 and 0:24 and 0:42.
Suddenly, at 1:02, there is a dramatic tingling pause and then the music changes to a chorus of horns blasting out in praise of the thrilling daredevils. I love the freight train chords at 1:12 and 1:35, the horns united in cheering the race on, promising a fitting coronation for the one who emerges victorious, which of course will be Speed. Mr. Amazing. There are some cool drum fills here and there, too, so hang on to your seats!
I don't know much about composer Nobuyoshi Koshibe, don't know much how to race a car, don't know much about helmet style, don't know much about smash up pile.
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